The fight against the virus has not yet been won

As soon as the coronavirus requirements are relaxed, a restaurant and a church report new infections. Are these just isolated cases? Regardless of this, Thuringia soon no longer wants to prescribe a mask or a distance.

Just a few days after many restaurants and cafés in Germany reopened, at least nine people in Lower Saxony seem to have been infected with the corona virus in one of the bars. “The infections are probably related to a visit to a restaurant,” said the district of Leer. The owner of the restaurant, who was initially a cook in the kitchen, also tested positive for the virus. He later joined his guests.

A spokesman for the district confirmed that the guests were a closed society. According to eyewitness reports, there have been indications of violations such as shaking hands, refraining from wearing a face mask and not observing the minimum distance.

The authorities in Lower Saxony ordered domestic quarantine for at least 50 people as a precaution following the new Corona outbreak. Further test results are still pending.

The health office in Leer assumes that it is not an isolated case with only a few contacts. “It is an outbreak with several infected people and many contacts at the same time.” Follow-up is now correspondingly complex.

“The number of quarantine cases will increase extremely”

The district administrator of Leer, Matthias Groote, warned: “This outbreak clearly shows us that Corona is not over, the virus can spread anytime.” In a video on the county’s Twitter page, Groote said the number of quarantine cases would continue to rise “extremely” because the current cases were “in the context of a meeting”.

The district of Leer has 5 new confirmed cases. 🦠📈

In the video Land, District Administrator Matthias Groote reports on how these are interrelated and what changes the new Lower Saxony regulation will bring pic.twitter.com/p8OeaTWbI5

According to the authorities, no confirmed new infection had been reported in the administrative district of Leer for more than a week. In the most recent case, it is not yet clear whether the guests or the staff have not followed the required corona hygiene measures and distance rules.

A spokeswoman for the hotel and restaurant association Dehoga said that the hygiene and distance concept that the association had developed meant that new infections in restaurants were actually not possible.

Lower Saxony was one of the first federal states in which restaurants were allowed to reopen – since May 11, food and drinks have also been served in closed rooms. In the days that followed, almost all other federal states gradually followed. Exceptions still apply in Bavaria until Monday. Only beer gardens and outdoor areas are currently open there.

Some experts continue to warn of indoor gatherings because of the corona pandemic. Andreas Podbielski, Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene at the University Medical Center Rostock, explained that guests of restaurants should sit outside if possible. “There are practically no infections. The corona virus is largely transmitted via the air.” Protect the draft from outside.

40 infected people after attending the service

The new corona outbreak in Frankfurt am Main may also confirm this thesis. After a service in a Baptist church, more than 40 new infections with the corona virus were reported from the Hessian metropolis. “Most of them are not particularly ill,” quotes the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”, the head of the Frankfurt Health Department, René Gottschalk. “To our knowledge, there is only one person in a hospital.”

According to a government spokesman, at least 16 people from Hanau alone were infected during the service.

Thuringia abolishes general corona restrictions

Regardless of this development, the precautionary corona requirements such as face mask, minimum distance and contact restrictions could soon be a thing of the past in the eastern German state of Thuringia. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow wants to lift the general lockdown by June 6. Details will be discussed in a cabinet meeting earlier this week.

Only local measures should then take the place of the country-wide requirements if a certain infection rate is exceeded in a region. A limit of 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week is under discussion.

According to figures from the state chancellery in Erfurt, the infection rate nationwide was 5.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. In total, more than 2,800 people have been proven to be infected with the coronavirus in Thuringia, 151 have died of or with the new lung disease COVID-19. The number of patients who have since recovered is estimated at more than 2400.